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21 years ago when I read Sifu's book "Sukhavati western paradise" it totally blew my mind and changed my perception of reality forever. Since then I have struggled to find any masters who could explain the true nature of reality and the world's religions with the same depth and profundity as Sifu until recently I stumbled across just such a man, Shunyamurti. He is a yogi who runs the Sat Yoga school/community in Costa Rica and he puts out a lot of regular great content on YouTube. I highly recommend his channel!
This video is entitled "The Buddha mind is now awakening the world". He explains Zen in a way that I have only ever heard from Sifu in this video. A great master indeed
Last edited by Truthdisciple; 3 September 2022, 10:52 PM.
Search for masters : In 1980s , while searching for teachers on mysticism i found an interesting book " The Path of The Masters " in a bookstore in Brussels ... http://www.bahaistudies.net/asma/pathofthemasters.pdf
Search for sifus : Later in 1990s , while searching for a wholistic martial art system ( combat efficiency , good health enhancement and zen/mind training ) , i found Sifu's books and later met Sifu himself in a famous cafe in Kuala Lumpur .
In searching for teachers ( anything from culinary masters to zen roshis ) , the following teachings from Sifu is perennial : https://shaolin.org/general/qualities.html
Thanks for sharing your experiences siheng Damien, I just had a look at the table of contents and read the first chapter of path of the master and already I am excited to read it.
I have read Sifu's excellent description of the qualities of a good master before, I am always blown away by the breadth and depth of his knowledge and wisdom as well as how well he can articulate those things in English. And he points out also why it has taken me more than 20 years since finding him to find another master, Shunyamurti, who can talk about the true nature of reality and meaning of religion in a way similar to him. As Sifu would say, like finding a diamond in a haystack!
As Sifu would say, like finding a diamond in a haystack!
Sorry. I am not familiar with this saying of Sigung. In what context did he say that?
All the best
Bernhard
"No matter what you do, you must be clear in your conscience." - Sitaigung Ho
A single light can eliminate the darkness of millenia.
Every moment is precious.
"No matter what you do, you must be clear in your conscience." - Sitaigung Ho
A single light can eliminate the darkness of millenia.
Every moment is precious.
Search for masters : In 1980s , while searching for teachers on mysticism i found an interesting book " The Path of The Masters " in a bookstore in Brussels ... http://www.bahaistudies.net/asma/pathofthemasters.pdf
Hi siheng Damien, I am quite disappointed about that book. It looked and sounded so promising but turned out to be very dogmatic, contradictory and condescending to other religions. The author claims his way is the only way (hallmark of a scam) and all the world's great religions fall short of it. He says in so many words that Jesus was a fool for annoying the authorities and getting himself crucified, that he should have just chilled out with his disciples and lived longer. Buddha was a fool for giving up his life as a Prince and only offered in his teachings the cause of suffering with no solutions. He makes out the Arabs to be warlike savages and Islam a religion of barbarians. Then proceeds to repeat himself endlessly until over 500 pages in when he promises to for the first time ever tell the way of the masters, and the first step is find a master! He claims China has not produced any genuine masters for over 100 centuries. I'm really quite surprised that you recommend this book to anybody. Perhaps you read it a long time ago when you were more impressionable?
Dear brother Burt , am sorry for your disappointment ….please disregard the book.
Assuming that the theme of this thread is about sharing one's searching and finding of great masters , my primary intention was to share a book ( that was in limited circulation ) that provided a conceptual framework to navigate the awesome vast universe of mysticism or spiritual cultivation during my searching years in Europe . Over a decade later in Malaysia , I was happily surprised to see a copy of same book in Sifu’s personal library ( Dr Johnson was quoted positively on a teaching point on comparative religion in one of Sifu’s chi kung book ) ..
The secondary intention was to opine that background research is important ( though not 100% foolproof ) before choosing a master , hence my posting of Sifu’s article on “Qualities of a Good Master”. Paradoxically , especially in spiritual cultivation , it is said that the Master appears when the student is ready , and not the other way round .
Anyways , my mistake in not clarifying and sincere apologies to all for that .
To conclude , at least in the context of Shaolin Arts , lets be grateful to have the opportunity , not only to have heard of or to have met but to actually learn from our dear Sifu
Thanks siheng Damien, I can see the good points in the book. He does provide a very good conceptual framework of spirituality and mysticism despite trashing genuine religions in his effort to do so. Perhaps it is his great enthusiasm for having found such a wonderful gift as a master that clouded his perception, a great gift indeed as you kindly alluded to from the link to another of Sifu's wonderful articles. I can see how this could create the bias in his writings. It also illustrates just how fortunate we are to have Sifu who through his great wisdom and generosity has given us such a deep and clear understanding and appreciation of the great religions of the world. I can also understand how such a book, however biased, could have been a positive contribution to the vast lack of understanding of mysticism in the spiritual black hole of modern society.
On the topic of the lack of understanding of mysticism particularly in Christianity and Western society I found this great video today about the missing books of the bible and how they fill the gaps in Christian understanding of such matters
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